Automatic and semi-automatic systems have been developed for interfacing with telephone lines to assist both called and calling parties in the exchange of information. One of the most basic systems is a "telephone answering machine" in which an automatic machine continuously monitors the incoming telephone line. When a ring signal is detected, the system causes the called party telephone to go "off-hook", and a pre-recorded short message (the answer) usually is played from an endless tape, to provide the calling party with a message. At the sound of a tone, the calling party is invited to leave a message, which then is recorded on another tape in the machine. The user of such an answering machine then may play back the messages which have accumulated over the period of time the machine has been operated.
Currently, a number of large corporations provide for automated answering systems which function somewhat in the manner of the more simple "answering machines" described above. These automated systems provide the calling party with an initial message, and then, typically, invite the calling party to depress selected ones of the push buttons on a touch-tone telephone to direct the call to specific departments, or the like, where the telephone is answered by a person most likely to be able to communicate with the calling party in the area of interest. These systems essentially operate under the direction of the calling party, who provides tones in response to the recorded prompt, for directing the call to the telephone which ultimately is to be answered in person. Patents directed to this kind of a system are the patents to Williams et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,410; Winter et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,322; and Brown et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,771.
Other systems have been designed to relieve telephone operators from the drudgery of repeatedly answering a telephone with the same message. Two patents which disclose the use of a synthesized voice response to the initial call, following which the operator on duty (or any person) proceeds with a "live" interchange with the calling party, are the patents to Winter et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,282, and Quiros et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,930. The pre-recorded or synthesized voice is the same voice of the operator; so that, theoretically at least, the calling party is not able to detect the difference between the pre-recorded message and the actual live response which subsequently follows.
The called station of Winter has a number of different prerecorded response messages, which are utilized in responding to incoming calls. The operator is on line the entire time, and actually effects the answering of the called party telephone. After the calling party initiates an interchange, the operator selects the desired message response, which is to be retrieved from memory and played back to the calling party. When the calling party speaks again, the operator, who has been on line via a conventional telephone the entire time, proceeds to converse with the caller. The operator, however, is relieved of making the actual initial voice responses, because of the ability to select pre-recorded responses to the initial query from the calling party.
The system disclosed in the Quiros patent is similar to Winter in the overall technique which is employed. As with Winter, the system of Quiros has the operator on line, monitoring the entire call. The initial response, however, is effected by a stored message. There is no operator selectable response message, but only a single pre-recorded message for the initial response to the calling party. The operator then takes over, after this initial response has been made.
Those systems described above, which include an operator on line during the time the pre-recorded messages are being played back over the line, are subject to the disadvantage of picking up extraneous background sounds from the microphone of the operator's telephone. Consequently, if the environment in which the operator or answering party is located is a noisy one, this noise will be transmitted over the phone line, along with the desired message. For a home, or for a business operated out of the home, where distracting background noise, such as the blaring of a television set, crying children, or the like, may exist, the pickup and transmission of background noise by the telephone microphone frequently is undesirable.
Pre-recorded messages, in voices other than the voice of the called party, are available for telephone answering machines and similar devices. Such messages often are used for injecting humor, sophistication through various regional accents, or the like into the answering response. Even when such a pre-recorded message is employed, however, the answering machine still terminates the prerecorded message with the "beep" to be followed by the calling party leaving a message to be recorded.
A telephone answering system for simulating an operator, and which is controlled much in the manner of the operator assist devices described above, has been introduced under the trademark Tele-Receptionist. This system permits a person initially to answer a telephone by pushing a button to play back a pre-recorded message, generally simulating a message of the type normally given by a secretary or receptionist answering the phone. The called party monitors the response, and then has the option of playing back a second pre-recorded message. Following that message, the called party responds "on line" in a normal manner.
It is desirable to provide a telephone operator simulator system which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, and which produces a realistic simulation of an operator by means of pre-recorded messages and background signal noises, to permit the called party to select the moment when he or she desires to engage in actual live conversation with the calling party.